Phil Mead

Charles Phillip Mead was an English professional cricketer who played in seventeen Test matches for England and had an extensive domestic career with Hampshire in English county cricket, spanning 31 years. Mead was born in Battersea. Overlooked by Surrey, he joined Hampshire in 1903 and made his debut for the county in first-class cricket in 1905. He established himself in the Hampshire team as a left-handed batsman the following season. After passing 2,000 runs in a season for the first time in 1911, Mead was chosen as one of five Wisden Cricketers of the Year. He was subsequently selected to tour Australia in 1911–12, making his Test debut against Australia. After success in the 1912 season, he toured South Africa, scoring his first Test century during the tour. Mead's appearances at Test level were infrequent, spanning seventeen matches across five series between 1911 and 1928. He scored nearly 1,200 runs in Tests, making four centuries. The paucity of his appearances at Test level were attributed to hostility toward his status as a professional batsman by England captain Plum Warner, playing for an "unfashionable" county, and an abundance of strong batsmen in county cricket competing for limited spaces in the England team. Despite the end of his Test career in 1928, Mead continued to play first-class cricket until 1936, when he was released by Hampshire at the age of 49. He then played two seasons of minor counties cricket for Suffolk in 1938 and 1939, whilst employed as a cricket coach at Framlingham College.